FEMA Trailers on the Way Out

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. - Almost a year and a half after the Caruthersville tornado, almost all of the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers will be out of town.

FEMA set the year and a half deadline from the emergency declaration. The trailers housed people who lost their homes to the tornado.

"Compared to other cities in a disaster, we've done an awesome job," Christina King said. King is the Housing Resource Coordinator for Caruthersville.

Nine trailers are still in use in Caruthersville with another four trailers used in the county. In all, FEMA brought in 193 trailers after the tornado. King said the nine families still living in trailers have presented plans to move out in the next three to four months.

"All of them have permanent housing plans. They are working to get out of the trailers, and they will soon," King said.

King and other city leaders helped people find the right resources and financing to get out of the trailers and into homes of their own.

Most of the trailers are on the south part of town near the airport. King says FEMA will transport them to Hope, Arkansas, where the trailers will be cleaned and used again.